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News

Horticulture Group Newsletter - August 2012

9 Aug 2012

At the end of June we made our delayed, but nevertheless fascinating, visit
to Thanet Earth
which is reported below. Our thanks to Tony Girard for organising this. Later
in the month we were also privileged to visit the Runcton Nursery of VHB
Herbs which will be reported on next month.

Don't forget our Annual General Meeting which will be held at 14.00 on
Friday 21 September, at SCI HQ, Belgrave Square.

Editor

Tomatoes and Cucumbers at Thanet Earth

A select group of members assembled at the Crown Inn, Sarre, before driving
in convoy through the security barriers surrounding Thanet Earth. Our initial
destination was the largest tomato glasshouse in the UK but, as we drove in,
we passed two equally large glasshouses full of peppers and cucumbers as well
as the packing shed that serves all three.

Thanet Earth is a collaborative venture between the Fresca group, who own
50% and three Dutch companies who own the other 50%. Fresca, the umbrella
company for a number of growing and marketing companies the largest of which
is M&M Mac, provides the packing and marketing for the site. The three
grower companies each specialise in the three crops grown; Kaaij Greenhouses
specialises in tomatoes and has units in Holland and Spain; A&A is run
by two partners who moved their cucumber business from the Westland of Holland
to Thanet Earth; and Rainbow Growers Group, a Dutch cooperative, growing and
marketing a range of glasshouse crops but specialising in peppers at Thanet
Earth.

The site can accommodate seven glasshouses and plans are advanced for the
fourth. This will be a shared business with each of the four existing partners
taking a 25% stake.

We
were greeted by Gert van Straalen (picture upper right) who manages the tomato
unit on behalf of Kaaij Greenhouses. He set the scene by outlining the history
above and explaining that the primary objective for all three growers was
to establish a base to market more easily into the UK. They are somewhat surprised
by the attention the project has received for, as he points out, anyone who
has visited the Westland of Holland will be very familiar with glasshouse
growing on this scale.

He took us into his 10 hectare (25 acre) glasshouse where they grow around
ten varieties of speciality tomatoes, many harvested 'on the vine'.
They aim to be in production for 52 weeks a year using sodium growing lights
to supplement the poor winter light levels. This continuity is achieved through
interplanting. The plants are grown in shorter rockwool bags than a typical
crop so that new plants can be added not just to the original bag but new
bags can be inserted in the gaps between the old.

Two stems are taken from all plants at the propagation stage and additional
sideshoots are taken on or stopped during the season to obtain an optimum
shoot density for the prevailing light conditions. Coloured string is used
to manage this ever-changing shoot density. Additional support wires also
enable the older plants to be pulled wider apart to enable an interplanted
crop to obtain more light.

A CHP unit provides heat and CO2 to the glasshouse as well as supplying
the national grid. Heat storage tanks are also used to balance power supply,
heat demand and optimum income from the electricity sold.

We then moved on to A&A run by Addy Breugem and Arjen de Gier. Addy
showed us round his glasshouse growing mainly standard slicing cucumbers on
high wires; the only UK grower to use such a system.

Here the crop is grown on standard sized rockwool slabs and they do not attempt
all year round production. The first crop is planted in mid-December and crops
from mid-January to the end of July and the second crop continues until the
start of November. This gives enough time for cleaning the glasshouse.

Instead of training the crop up strings, staff clip the stems to rigid wires
suspended from the overhead crop wires. These clips are padded with foam rubber
to minimise damage to the plant stem, and only two clips are required per plant.

Much of the basic structure was similar to that at Kraaij Greenhouses with
a CHP power source and an impressive nutrient mixing and control unit (picture
lower right).

Sadly, lack of time prevented us visiting Rainbow Growers peppers and as
usual it is only possible in this short article to select just a few of the innovations
we saw in our excellent visit. More information including
videos can be found at www.thanetearth.com.

Plant of the Month

This herbaceous perennial is native to North America east of the Rocky Mountains,
excluding the drier parts of the Prairies. It is one of approximately 70 species
in the genus Asclepias which has its centre of diversity in North America.
The flowers of this plant are grouped in several spherical umbels with numerous
flowers in each umbel.

The seeds are attached to long, white flossy hairs and encased in large follicles.
The plant has also been explored for commercial use of its bast (inner bark)
fibre which is both strong and soft. The United States Department of Agriculture
studies in the 1890s and 1940s found that milkweed has more potential for
commercial processing than any other indigenous bast fibre plant, with estimated
yields as high as hemp and quality as good as flax.

The seeds contain quantities of cinnamic acid, which is a very good sunscreen.
The plants latex contains large quantities of poisonous glycosides which are
toxic to most mammals. This plant is a host for Monarch butterflies, which
are immune to the toxicity, but the poisonous chemicals are stored in their
bodies making them toxic to birds such as jays.

Alison Foster
Oxford Botanic
Garden

Medicinal Plant of the Month

Catharanthus roseus, Madagascar periwinkle, Apocynaceae

Catharanthus
roseus, the Madagascar periwinkle (pictured right), is now
widespread across the tropics and sub-tropics and is even considered an invasive
weed in some areas. The leaves of the plant were traditionally made into a
tea to treat diabetes. In the 1950s a physician in Jamaica sent a sample to
his brother, a research scientist in Canada, to investigate further.

No anti-diabetic
activity was found but it was observed that the test animals suffered from
depleted white blood cell levels. This suggested that the plant could have
potential as an anti-cancer agent and so the search began for the active
constituent(s). The two main chemicals responsible for the activity were identified
as vincristine (left) and vinblastine (right), and these two drugs have since been rigorously
tested and proven to be very effective.

Vincristine was approved by the FDA in 1963. Both molecules work by inhibiting
the assembly of microtubule structures which arrests the cell cycle in the
metaphase. These drugs are important components of many chemotherapy regimes.
Vincristine is especially important for the treatment of childhood leukaemia.
The chemical structures are very complicated and, although total synthesis
has been achieved in the laboratory, it is not a commercially viable process.
Even though the plants only contain very small quantities of the chemicals,
they are farmed commercially in places such as Texas, USA in order to extract
the chemicals. Vincristine makes up 0.0003% of the dry weight of the plant
with vinblastine more abundant at 0.01%. Fortunately vinblastine can be transformed
into vincristine by chemical transformation.

Alison Foster
Oxford Botanic
Garden

News from our Associates

Commercial
Horticultural AssociationThe CHA is continuing to recruit UK Companies interested in exporting for
three major trade shows in the coming autumn - HortiFair
in Amsterdam (30 Oct - 2 Nov), IPM
in Essen (22-25 Jan 2013) and Fruit
Logistica (6-8 Feb 2013). Grants of between &pound;1,000 and &pound;1,400
are available to eligible companies. HortiFair focusses on technology, IPM
on pot plants and nursery stock while Fruit Logistica, as its name implies
is about fruit.

Grow
CareersWe have been working on a redraft of the Science and Technology Section of
the Grow Careers website to make it more representative of the wide range
of careers available in Horticultural Science. Thanks to all those who have
sent their comments. The website should be updated with the revised text shortly.

Society of Biology The Society of Biology has made a response to the Department for Education's
consultation on Career Guidance. This supports the concentration on 14-18
year olds, is undecided on the value of extending it to 12-14 years olds, but
is strongly in favour of extending career advice well beyond 18. The full
response can be found here.

Horticulture Industry News

For the very latest horticultural news follow us on Facebook and or Twitter.

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